our system, and the quantity of matter it contains has been computed from the motion of its satellites by an application of a theory founded on the most familiar of all the facts we know, that a heavy body on our earth when projected into the air descends again to the ground. Nor is it only the more general laws of terrestrial bodies which extend to the more remote parts of the universe. There is some ground for suspecting that the particular arrangements of things on the surfaces of the different planets are not wholly unlike those which we observe on our own. I before took notice of that relation which the size and strength of animals and vegetables seem to bear to the laws of gravitation and cohesion. Supposing, then, the other planets to be furnished with animals and vegetables similar to those on the surface of our earth, and supposing at the same time the same laws of cohesion and of other attractions which obtain here to extend over our system, it was necessary that the force of gravity at the surfaces of the different planets should not differ very widely from one standard. Now, as we find from the fact, contrary to all expectation, that at the surfaces of the planets which differ from each other the most in magnitude, there is a wonderfully narrow limit within which the force of gravity varies, is it not a natural inference that they are fitted for the accommodation of animated beings not very different from those with which we are acquainted? At the surface of Jupiter, though he be several hundred times greater than our earth, the force of gravity is little more than double of that of terrestrial bodies; and at the surface of Saturn it is only about one fourth greater than at the surface of the earth.* Amusing and interesting as these physical speculations may be to the mind, it is still more delightful to trace that uniformity of design which obtains in the moral world. To compare the arts of human life with the instincts of the brutes, and the instincts of the different tribes of brutes with each other; and to remark, * Maclaurin's Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical discoveries, B. iii. ch. 5. § 5. amidst the wonderful variety of means which are employed to accomplish the same ends, a certain analogy characterize them all; or to observe in the minds of different individuals of our own species the workings of the same affections and passions, manifesting among men of every age and of every country the kindred features of humanity. It is this which gives the great charm to what we call nature in epic and dramatic compositions; when the poet speaks a language to which every heart is an echo, and which, amidst all the effects of education and fashion in modifying and disguising the principles of our constitution, reminds all the various classes of readers or of spectators of the existence of those moral ties which unite us to each other, and to our common Parent. I have only to add further, before leaving this subject, that the various remarks and reasonings which I have offered on the two general principles of our nature formerly mentioned, are not to be considered as forming any part of the argument for the existence of God, which, as I already said, is an immediate and necessary consequence of these principles. What I had in view was, not to confirm this important truth by reasoning, but to obviate the sceptical cavils which have been raised against it. When the principles of our nature are allowed to follow their own course without being diverted from it by the prejudices of superstition or of false philosophy, they produce their proper effect on the mind of the uncultivated savage, as much as of the enlightened citizen. "How do you know," said a traveller to a poor Arab of the desert, "that there is a God?""In the same manner," he replied, "that I trace the footsteps of an animal by the prints which it leaves upon the sand."-"Is it not fitting," said a savage of Sumatra to his companion, showing him a watch that had been made in Europe, "that a people such as we should be the slaves of a nation capable of forming such a machine? The sun," he added, " is a machine of the same nature."-" And who winds him up?" said his companion." Who," replied he, "but Allah!"* * Marsden's History of Sumatra. If any exception to the universality of these religious impressions among mankind is to be found, it is not among savages we are to look for it, but in populous and commercial and artificial societies of men, where the voice of nature is drowned amid the bustle of business, or the hurry of dissipation; where our earliest and most susceptible years are passed among the productions of human art, and the attention is diverted from those physical appearances, which are stamped with the obvious marks of Divine power and wisdom. Nothing, in truth, banishes moral impressions from the thoughts so much as the artificial objects with which we are every where surrounded in populous and cultivated countries, particularly in large commercial cities; because the curiosity is too deeply engrossed by the productions of human skill and industry to have leisure to follow its natural direction. Hence it is that such impressions, however long banished from the mind, never fail to revive when we retire from the haunts of men to converse with nature in solitude. What we call the love of nature is in fact the love and admiration of the Deity. The enthusiasm with which some men survey the endless vicissitudes which the spectacle of the universe exhibits, is nothing else than the devotional temper moderated and repressed by the slight veil which sensible objects interpose between us and their author. In those deep and savage recesses where human art has never trod, this veil is in some measure removed; every thing around us appears unchanged and fresh from the hand of the Creator, and we seem to be conscious of his more immediate presence. "PRÆSENTIOREM et conspicimus Deum Clivosque præruptos, sonantes Inter aquas, nemorumque noctem ; Quam si repôstus sub trabe citreâ SECTION III. Conclusion of the Argument for the Existence of God. THE observations which have been made not only establish the existence of a Deity, but contain the evidences of his unity, of his power, and of his wisdom. Of these we justly say that they are infinite; that is, that our imagination can set no bounds to them, and that our conceptions of them always rise in proportion as our own faculties are cultivated and enlarged, and as our knowledge of the universe becomes more extensive. Some of the earlier and more scholastic of our modern writers on natural religion give a long enumeration of what they call the Divine Attributes, which they divide into the natural, the intellectual, and the moral. Under the first head, they comprehend the unity of the Deity, his self-existence, his spirituality, his omnipotence, his immutability, his eternity; under the second, his knowledge and his wisdom; and under the third, his justice and his goodness; and of all these attributes they treat in a systematical manner. I own I do not approve of this view of the subject; or at least I do not think I could adopt it with advantage here; I shall therefore confine myself to a few observations on the evidences of the Divine goodness and justice, those attributes which render the Deity the proper object of religious worship and adoration. Before, however, entering on this subject, I think it proper to take notice of the historical question concerning the priority of monotheism or of polytheism, in the order of human investigation. I shall afterwards collect together a few miscellaneous remarks which in the course of this chapter escaped my recollection while treating of those heads under which they ought to have been introduced. For the sake of greater distinctness I shall divide the section into two parts. PART I. With respect to the priority of Monotheism or Polytheism, two opinions on the question have been propos ed. The one supposes monotheism to be agreeable to the first suggestions of the mind, and polytheism to result from a combination of the conclusions formed by different persons in different situations. The other supposes polytheism to arise necessarily from those partial conceptions of the universe, to which our faculties are limited in the infancy of reason and experience, and monotheism to be the slow and gradual result of more enlarged and philosophical views. The former opinion is supported by Mr. Ferguson, in his "Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy;" the latter by Mr. Hume, in his "Natural History of Religion." "In every nation or tribe," says Ferguson, "The providence of God was supposed to take its character from the circumstances in which it was employed. In maritime situations the Deity was conceived as monarch of the sea, and director of storms. Within land he was conceived as the patron of husbandmen and of shepherds, the ruler of seasons, and the power on which man must depend for the increase of his herds, and for the returns of his harvest. "In no instance, perhaps, did the people of any one description or determinate manner of life originally conceive more than one God. But the accounts of what different nations believed, when collated together, seemed to make up a catalogue of separate deities; and what every nation apart intended for one, when reports were accumulated from different quarters, was mistaken for many. "The spirit with which these reports of a God acknowledged in one nation, different from the God who was acknowledged in another, were mutually received by their respective votaries, was various in different instan ces. "In some instances the pretensions of one Deity were supposed to be consistent with those of another, and the Gods reconcilable. Upon this supposition every nation worshipped its own, without any supposed disparagement to the God of its neighbour, and without animosity to his worshippers. "In other instances pretensions were considered as |